A ruptured sewer line is thought to have caused the sinkhole that appeared in Guatemala City in 2007.

The 2010 Guatemala sinkhole could have formed in a similar fashion, Currens said. A burst sanitary or storm sewer may have been slowly saturating the surrounding soil for a long time before tropical storm Agatha added to the inundation.

"The tropical storm came along and would have dumped even more water in there, and that could have been the final trigger that precipitated the collapse," Currens said.